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Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Mystic Seaport Museum has asked us to mention that they are currently advertising for the position of Captain and Program Supervisor for the schooner Brilliant, design #12. Brilliant is an extraordinary vessel and her program is wonderful. There are numerous postings about her on this blog site. Simply do a "search" in the search field at top.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Here's design #1358, Anitra going down the ways at the Bengt Plym shipyard of Sweden. It's just such a great photograph that I had to include it here. You only get to take a photo like this once in a boat's life, when she touches the water for the first time.

A sail maker asked us for a sail plan for one of her sisters, China Clipper which was the third boat to be built to this design and that got me thinking about her. Incredibly we don't have a single image of her. I suppose that's not too uncommon for our boats that were built in the Far East. China Clipper was built by the Wing on Shing Shipyard of Hong Kong, and fitted out by the Woodnut Yard of England (Isle of Wight). She was launched in ~1963.

Although a bit tattered, here's her sail plan. In comparing her to Anitra please note she is a sloop.

Here's a brief article about the boat. Please double click for zoom.

In studying the design I see her lines were modified slightly above the waterline which was probably done for rating purposes (RORC Rule).

Although we don't have any images there is a nice brief video clip of her at sea posted on YouTube. Click here to access.

I count a total of seven boats to built to this design. Here's a link to a couple of images of the very beautiful Stiren, the sixth in the line.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Yesterday I mentioned I would try to tie together a string of Admiral's Cup designs from the early '70s. We will need to start with Saudade, design #2140. The year was 1973 and she was designed and built for the German Team. Here we need to step back for a moment and discuss Rubin, design #2102, built in 1971. She is a boat we have not yet blogged about. Rubin was part of the 1973 German Admiral's Cup team. That's a display of Admiral's Cup models that include the full team shown above with Carina, a Dick Carter design next to Saudade on center and Rubin on the right, both S&S designs. Suadade was the overall high scorer that year.

Here's a peak at Rubin's sail plan. More about her in a future blog posting.

We can then move on to design #2149, Prospect of Whitby IV. She is a direct descendant of the designs before her. If you recall her hull and deck were built by Royal Huisman Shipyard and finished by Berthon Boat in the UK. This includes the development of her sisters: Struntje V and Battlecry. I just had to include this interesting image of Prospect of Whitby IV being shipped from Holland. I suppose we know what she weighs at this point.

Here's Prospect of Whitby IV on the day of her launch.

The string of boats continues then with Mandrake, design #2182, launched in 1974 and her sister, Palynodie. Here's a poor quality image of Mandrake.

In any event, we could probably go much, much further in the rapid development of these boats but I thought I would provide you with at least few links to tie these blog postings together.

A blog reader sent us this material regarding design #2150, the Swan 41, so we are posting it here. The photographs were taken in 1974, just after the boat's introduction. Thanks very much for sending the material.

He also included the following Swan advertisement about the boat also from 1974. Please double click for zoom.

This was the first of three large barges designed and built for transporting phosphate rock for the Chemicals Division of the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation. Each barge was capable of carrying 9,500 net tons of dry cargo from Tampa, Florida to the company's fertilizer plant at Pasadena, Texas. At the time the latter was the world's largest facility for the production of synthetic pelletized fertilizer.

The barges were built by the American Bridge Division of U.S. Steel of Ambridge, Pennsylvania at a cost of approximately $2,000,000 each. The year was 1963.

Here's a nice set of launch sequence images. She's being launched into the Ohio River.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

A blog reader sent us this dramatic image of sailing yacht Saudade, design #2140. We've already posted an article about her. I think tomorrow I will post an article about the design evolution of a bunch of Admiral's Cup designs from the early 1970s that are all very related to each other. What got me on this tangent was researching Chiquita of the Sea, which we have blogged about earlier today and yesterday. She is part of this great family of yachts.

As a follow up to our posting of yesterday the son of the former owner of Chiquita of the Sea was kind enough to send us the image seen above. He also provided the following explanation: My family owned her from approx 1980 till approx 1994. Indeed in 1988 my father, an engineer among many other things, felt the deck layout needed improvement for family sailing, but also for racing. Together with your offices the deck, rigging and keel balance was reworked. The rigging got an extra 3ft height, the boom got an extra 3 ft length and about 500 kilos of ballast was relocated from the top of the keel to the bottom of the keel. The result was breathtaking. She still went upwind like no other boat, but with 2 more knots in any wind speed. The deck layout also gave her a more modern touch. The interior was done from scratch, saving another 500 kilos but giving way more comfort.

From the Berthon website we gained some further clarity as well. The aluminum hull and deck were fabricated by Allday Aluminum Ltd and fitted out by Berthon Boat Works of Lymington, England.

As a follow up to the posting regarding Stormy Weather's tender this past weekend, a blog reader has asked us to compare her to Dorade's tender. The sail plan above is an extract from her plans. She is similar to Stormy Weather's tender for sure. Dimensionally they are very similar but Dorade's dinghy is a foot longer overall. Again the best reference for what these boats looked like are the images we posted about Edlu II's Nevin's built tender which is in the collection at Mystic Seaport.

This trawler of moderate size was constructed of welded steel with an insulated fish hold. Power was provided by twin 6-71 General Motors marine diesels producing 165 hp each. A large trawl winch was powered by a hydraulic power take-off from the main engines.

The design was developed using the results of extensive model tests conducted at the Stevens Institute experimental towing tank.

We've posted two articles about this beautiful boat. (Click here and here to access the articles). A blog reader sent us this image of Roon II at her launch at the Kretzer Boat Works of City Island, New York. The year was 1934. Great image and thanks very much for sending it.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

A blog reader asked us to post some information about this design. Here it is.

There are a number of Admiral's Cup designs developed from Saudade, design #2140, around 1973-1974. Design #2202 was one of these designs. Two boats were built to this design: Patrice III being the first. She was constructed of aluminum by Halvorsen, Morson & Gowland of Australia and launched in 1974. She was conceived as an improvement on Saudade and as a flat out ocean racing vessel.

The following year a sister was built by the Berthen Boat Company of Lymington, England, also of aluminum. I find no record of her name nor her history. She was launched in 1974.

Then fast forward to 1988. A new design number was assigned, #2202-C2 for a boat named Chiquita of the Sea. In reviewing what we have on hand my suspicion is that in fact the Berthon boat was renamed Chiquita of the Sea and we only designed a new rig and a modified keel for her. Perhaps this was for the installation of a carbon rig?

Monday, November 28, 2011

Shamrock was designed and built for Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Disney founder Walt Disney. It was his first major yacht and the boat he sailed in his first Transpac Race. More would follow but his future boats yachts would be "sleds" (and designed by California designers).

Shamrock was built by Driscoll Custom Boats of San Diego, California. She was constructed of aluminum and was launched in 1973. She is clearly a cruiser and racer with shoal draft and without question very Swan-like. I'm sorry we don't have any images of her.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

After our posting of Saturday regarding Brilliant we received this additional image of great interest. The image was taken aboard Brilliant with (from left to right) Joseph Wheeler Appleton, a very young Rod Stephens (approx 22 at the time), Brilliant's skipper (name unknown), Rufus Murray of the Nevins yard, and an unidentified person. Thank you for sending this image.

Speaking of Stormy Weather, we find in the plans that a special tender was designed and built as part of her plan package. Here she is today.

Here is a peek at the lines. It looks like modifications have been made over the years, such as the centerboard trunk. We also find no record that any other plans (such as a construction plan) were generated to produce this tender.

Principal DimensionsLOA 10'-0"Beam 4'-3"

Postscript: In response to the comment posted on 27 November the answer is yes, the tender would be carried upside down on deck as seen in the image below. We do not have an image of Stormy Weather with her tender aboard. This is an image of Dorade.

One of the best loved designs from our history is undoubtedly Stormy Weather. Here are a couple of images of her just prior to launch at Nevins in City Island. That sure looks like Rod in the image above. The year was 1934.

Here are a couple of additional images from another source.

I believe that is Polly LeBoutillier, daughter of the owner, Mr. Philippe LeBoutillier, with the champagne bottle in the image above.

Special Note About the Indexes (Above):All boats are listed by LOA, Design Number and Boat Name and are an active hyperlink to the primary article about that particular boat that usually includes the principal plans and dimensions when available. That does not mean that is the only article about the boat within these pages. For popular designs there may be numerous postings. For Dorade for example there are 8 different postings about her thus far. If you are interested in a particular design please use the SEARCH feature to do further research. The indexes only include boats that have been posted on this blog and do not represent our entire collection. More boats are added on a continual basis. Other subjects are posted as well and do not appear in the indexes.